Minibots
For small robots that fight alongside Heavyweight machines, see Clusterbots. The Minibots were small, metallic pullback toys based on competitor robots and House Robots that appeared in the original series of Robot Wars. Unlike the larger Pullbacks and Pitstop Toys, most of these Minibots did not have moving weapons, but had two playsets, including a miniature replica of the Robot Wars Arena, to 'fight' in. Releases The Minibots were manufactured by Feva and sold exclusively at Argos in packs of two, three or five. Two generations of Minibots were released. The first was released in 2001 and featured Razer, Hypno-Disc, Panic Attack, Pussycat, X-Terminator 2, Chaos 2, as well as all of the House Robots that appeared in Series 4-5. These Minibots were particularly based on the Series 4 versions of the robots they were based on, with series-specific details such as X-Terminator 2's flipping arm and Matilda's chainsaw tail being incorporated into their designs. Only five of these first series of Minibots had moving parts - Pussycat's blade, Sir Killalot's arms, Refbot's arms, Matilda's tusks and Sgt. Bash's flamethrower. The second generation was released in 2002, which consisted of Wild Thing, Firestorm 3, Tornado, Mega Morg, Suicidal Tendencies, Gemini, Plunderbird 5, Dominator 2 and Wheely Big Cheese. These minibots were based on each robot's Series 5/Extreme 1 incarnations, with series-specific details including Wild Thing's disc and Dominator 2's wheelguards. Six of the second generation Minibots had moving parts, such as Suicidal Tendencies' claw and the flipping arms of Gemini, but, interestingly, these six were not made into corresponding Pullbacks. According to a behind-the-scenes article from the second issue of the Titan Robot Wars Magazine, a third generation of Minibots was also planned for release, which would have consisted of nine more competitors and Minibot versions of Mr. Psycho and Growler. However, they never entered production, and no further information on this third series currently exists. Features The Minibots all had the same small pullback mechanism with three wheels, except for Sir Killalot, which had four wheels. This lead to some robots, such as Pussycat having rather distorted proportions to accommodate the shape of the pullback mechanism, while outside wheels or tracks were made static for Minibots based on robots which had them, such as those for Hypno-Disc and Sir Killalot. Minibots based on invertible robots, such as Tornado and Wheely Big Cheese, could not run inverted either, as the motor's wheels were only located on one side of the toy. List of Minibots Competitor Robots House Robots Packaging The Minibots were sold in sets of three, two and occasionally five. Some Minibots were included with the Minibot Arena, Smash 'N' Crash and Drop Zone sets. Pack1.jpg|Razer, Refbot and Sgt. Bash (3-pack) Pack2.jpg|Panic Attack, Dead Metal and Hypno-Disc Pack3.jpg|Shunt, Pussycat and Matilda Pack4.jpg|X-Terminator, Sir Killalot and Chaos 2 Pack5.jpg|Tornado, Gemini and Firestorm Pack6.jpg|Wild Thing, Dominator and Plunderbird MiniWBCSTMM.jpg|Wheely Big Cheese, Suicidal Tendencies and Mega Morg Razer three-pack.jpg|Razer, Refbot and Sgt. Bash (2002) Panic Attack three-pack.jpg|Panic Attack, Dead Metal & Hypno-Disc (2002) Minibot packaging rear.jpg|Back of the packaging The sets of three released were; Sgt Bash and X-Terminator 2.png|Sgt. Bash and X-Terminator 2 (2-pack) Shunt and Razer.png|Shunt and Razer Minipair2.jpg|Dead Metal and Panic Attack Minipair3.jpg|Refbot and Pussycat Minipair5.jpg|Sir Killalot and Chaos 2 Minibox3.jpg|Shunt, Matilda, Panic Attack, Chaos 2 and Dead Metal (5-pack) Minibox.jpg|Shunt, Hypno-Disc, Sir Killalot, Razer and Wheely Big Cheese Minibox2.jpg|Shunt, Gemini, Sgt. Bash, Tornado and Firestorm * Razer, Refbot and Sgt. Bash * Panic Attack, Dead Metal and Hypno-Disc * Shunt, Matilda and Pussycat * X-Terminator 2, Sir Killalot and Chaos 2 * Tornado, Gemini and Firestorm * Wild Thing, Dominator 2 and Plunderbird 5 * Wheely Big Cheese, Mega Morg and Suicidal Tendencies The sets of two contained one House Robot and one competitor robot. The sets of two released were; * Sgt. Bash and X-Terminator 2 * Shunt and Razer * Dead Metal and Panic Attack * Refbot and Pussycat * Sir Killalot and Chaos 2 * Matilda and Hypno-Disc Three sets of five were also released; * Shunt, Hypno-Disc, Sir Killalot, Razer and Wheely Big Cheese * Shunt, Gemini, Sgt. Bash, Tornado and Firestorm * Shunt, Matilda, Panic Attack, Chaos 2 and Dead Metal Minibot Arena Smash 'N' Crash Playset References Category:Minibots Category:Toys